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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: gnguyen on Thu, 28 July 2011, 16:30:25

Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: gnguyen on Thu, 28 July 2011, 16:30:25
I have a Leopold FC200RT keyboard and I was trying to lubricate a squeaky stabilizer and removed the stabilizers for couple of buttons. No matter what I do I cannot get them back in. Has anyone taken the stabilizer post off their keyboard and have managed to put it back together?
Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: pyro on Thu, 28 July 2011, 19:05:06
Sorry, I thought you referring to a different kind of board.

Old text (KBC Poker-like):
First get the side-pseudo-switches (I mean the things the metal-bar goes into) out. They're connected on 2 points to the board, it's important to get connection on the opposite side of the metal bar out, first, otherwise you may break the other one.

Once you got them out you should be able to reassamble them with the metal bar and pop the construction back in already assembled.
Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: gnguyen on Thu, 28 July 2011, 21:09:34
Gah. No matter what I do I cannot get it back to its normal position. I fear that I may have broken some kind of retention mechanism for the metal bracket because it is sliding around a lot in there.
Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: keyboardlover on Fri, 29 July 2011, 07:31:42
Posting a pic might help us see what you're dealing with.
Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: gnguyen on Fri, 29 July 2011, 08:17:15
[ATTACH=CONFIG]22649[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22650[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22651[/ATTACH]

Is it normal for the metal part to move like that? What I have been doing is putting the stem into the enclosure, getting the metal to stand upright, threading the pseudo-switch onto the metal via the bottom hole on the stem, and then attempting to lock down both sides at once. But, when I do this the stems are either jammed and will not raise or the metal has missed the stem and the stem ends up sitting on top of the bar.
Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: alaricljs on Fri, 29 July 2011, 09:20:30
The metal bar is supposed to sit in that u-shape clip at the bottom right (in your pic) of the 'pseudo-switch'  I can't think of a way to do that with the PCB and plate already put together.
Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: digitalleftovers on Fri, 29 July 2011, 13:45:53
I had the same problem with my poker a few days ago.  I eventually figured it out and all is well.  In a perfect world, you would be able to snap both of those mini switches in place and slide the wire in from the front.  No such luck.  I snapped one mini switch, inserted one side of wire, and then holding the other mini switch WITH the wire inserted in it already, snapped it down in place.  this got me both halves of the stabilizer with the wire half way in.  I then had to push the wire down into its clips to finish the job.  It took about 45 minutes of fumbling around, but now I know what to do next time.

Taking another cap off to have a visual comparison for the stabilizer was extremely helpful, too.
Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: bpiphany on Fri, 29 July 2011, 22:59:44
I would desolder the switch, take the wire out and assemble the stabilizer out of the keyboard before putting everything back.
Title: Help needed. Putting back in cherry stabalizers
Post by: digitalleftovers on Sat, 30 July 2011, 04:05:00
I would have to second that.  Its too bad it didn't happen closer to the edge.  removing the switch is the only way to enough room to get the wire in place.

In a perfect world (and maybe this is worth trying), if you had a way to hold the wire from outside the case (take the bezel off and reach in the front with some surgical pliers) you might be able to tilt the wire up at an angle from under the plate, and slide the stabilizers back onto the wire at an angle.  You would have to do both before you could start snapping them down, so you're probably need an extra set of hands...